Let him eat cake! Birthday greetings for President Trump as he turns 80 – from Greta Thunberg, Piers Morgan and more

The 47th has his 80th this weekend – a milestone that surely shouldn’t go unmarked. Artists, activists, writers and thinkers send their messages to the man of the hour (even if they’re unlikely to get a party invite)

The Guardian

#JenniferEgan is a #Pulitzer prize-winning #author:

“#HappyBirthday, President #Trump! By any measure, you have racked up a staggering number of accomplishments in your 80 years.

You’ve managed to nullify the bulwark against #fascism that our three branches of government were meant to provide.

You’ve transformed the presidency into an orgy of #corruption and self-dealing that would make last century’s robber barons blush.

You’ve #erased whatever #goodwill and #respect America commanded internationally, and ceded our relevance in the realms of science, medicine and climate technology for the foreseeable future.

You’ve elevated #racism and #xenophobia into law, #hobbled HigherEducation and #gutted #WomensRights.

The sheer quantity and variety of your assaults has rendered your detractors punch-drunk, faced with a daily choice between trying to confront your lawless Hydra and maintaining some semblance of normal life so that our kids will believe they still have a future.

I like to think that your rampage has exposed areas of weakness in our government that needed exposing – that, when you and your minions are gone, we’ll know what steps to take to ensure that your like will never again be able to #hijack and #ransack our country. But then, I’m an optimist.

One thing is certain: having been effective beyond anyone’s wildest imaginings, you’ve more than earned an early retirement. Take it! Enjoy your remaining golden years on the golf course, buoyed up by the knowledge that you’ve exceeded the expectations of virtually every person in the world.” #uspol #auspol

25 Modern Classics That’ll Actually Wreck You (In the Best Way)

25 modern classic books that belong on every reading list, from gut-punch literary fiction to genre-bending thrillers. Cormac McCarthy, Zadie Smith, Gillian Flynn, and more. These aren't dusty assignments, they're the books people are still talking about. Here's your no-BS guide to what's actually worth reading.

https://findsbydavidblog.wordpress.com/2026/03/30/25-modern-classics-thatll-actually-wreck-you-in-the-best-way/

Artists plan nationwide US protests against Trump and ‘authoritarian forces’

Michael Moore, Lynn Nottage, Ava DuVernay and Amanda Palmer will take part in an event series to ‘unite in defiance’

The Guardian
I think Jennifer Egan was already one of my top 5 (at least) favourite authors of all time, but "The Candy House" is just breathtakingly brilliant. The imagination behind this book is amazing - it's madly inventive, surprising, covering a huge breadth of experiences, but most of all it's enormous fun.
This highlighted sentence relates to the music business, but of course is not limited to it.
#JenniferEgan #TheCandyHouse

Finally getting around to Jennifer Egan's latest, "The Candy House", a sort-of sequel to "A Visit From the Goon Squad", but set in tech rather than music circles, centering around authenticity, memory, and the allure of new technology.
And it's already (unsurprisingly) brilliant, who else comes up with a term like "word casing"!

#JenniferEgan #TheCandyHouse

#finishedReading Jennifer Egan's The Candy House. Do I know what it is about, apart from what a reviewer has said: riffs on memory, authenticity and the allure of new technology. No. Did I really like reading it? Yes, it kept pulling me through so that I was surprised how quickly I got to the end.
#bookstodon #JenniferEgan

#SongsBooksOrShowsAboutBeans
#HashtagGames

"A Visit from the Garbanzo Squad"
By Jennifer Egan

#JenniferEgan #fiction

#FinishedReading it's been more than a decade between A Visit From the Goon Squad and its sequel, so my memory is a bit vague on the characters that connect them, but this set of interlinked short stories, told in a variety of voices and styles, stands up well on its own. #Bookstodon #JenniferEgan
I just finished ‘The Candy House. There were many interesting concepts that sparked my #curiosity. #JenniferEgan Disciplined Restlessness https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/jennifer-egans-disciplined-restlessness #read #novel #books #fiction #literature #TheNewYorker